No matter how much slack you cut it, The Company You Keep never quite lives up to expectation.

It’s a faintly tragic realization given how much talent was floating above the line in this new movie from smarty-pants Robert Redford, but then again its central flaw as a film echoes the core disappointment lying at the heart of the content.

Based on the novel by Neil Gordon, The Company You Keep deals with the lasting legacy of boomer idealism as it tells the fictionalized story of the real life Weather Underground, a radical group born from the anti-war movement in the 1960s.

Desperate to change the agenda and “bring the war home,” the “Weathermen” set off bombs, accidentally blew themselves up, and were indirectly connected to a bank robbery that left several dead.

Some were convicted of crimes. Yet many members of the group simply fell off the grid and disappeared, which is where The Company You Keep begins: Longtime fugitive Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon) decides she’s done enough hiding and turns herself in to the authorities more than three decades after the fact.

Shortly afterwards we’re introduced to Jim Grant (Robert Redford), a single dad and lawyer with a significant secret.

The connection between the two is sketchy, which is where the ever-convenient reporter character (Shia LaBeouf) steps in to explain the facts in the form of a frustrated tirade to the predictably fed up, forever threatening editor (Stanley Tucci).

The dialogue surrounding violent protest got a lot narrower in the past month, which means a lot of the talking points in Redford’s movie feel moot.

Thanks to these genteel nods to the nostalgia of His Girl Friday, within 15 minutes of the head credits, we know the basic outlines of the story: Jim Grant is actually Nick Sloan, another member of the WU who eluded prosecution.

Nick goes on the lam to protect his young daughter, but he’s really trying to reach Mimi Lurie (Julie Christie), another fugitive from justice who could vindicate him on all charges, should she choose to co-operate.

Unlike other members of the group, Mimi is still a fierce believer in her ideals. She still wants to blow the whistle, and she still wants to blow stuff up.

Now, given the precise moment in time this movie is being released to a mass audience, there isn’t going to be a whole lot of empathy for these homegrown “terrorists” — even if they’re being played by generational icons such as Sarandon, Redford, Christie and the ever-hunky Sam Elliott.

The dialogue surrounding violent protest got a lot narrower in the past month, which means a lot of the talking points in Redford’s movie feel moot.

Redford no doubt wanted his audience to question issues of moral obligation and social responsibility. He wanted us to feel the friction point between what is and what could be, and he wanted to do it in a way that felt direct, emotional and poignant.

As a result, one never gets a sense of undeclared judgment. Every character is given a wide berth of emotion and motivation, and everyone remains somewhat sympathetic over the course of the chatty denouement that never quite locks into thriller gear.

This is good for the Socratic side of the movie, but it sucks away at the entertainment value because without judgment and a sense of moral traction, the underlying dramatic engine keeps spinning its wheels without going anywhere.

In the rare moments where the movie finds its teeth, it does extremely well, such as the climactic exchange between Christie and Redford — the only two actors in the whole piece who find any palpable dynamic.

In the rare moments where the movie finds its teeth, it does extremely well.

Christie’s character looks at her old friend and sees only the chalk mark of his former self. She thinks he’s grown soft, and sacrificed his ideals for a comfortable life. He counters her self-righteous speech by saying simply: “I grew up.”

This one scene encapsulates the whole diorama of theme: Is radical idealism a quaint memory of a bygone era, or is it possible to be an effective tool of social change while still obeying the codes of the status quo?

They are good questions, but the movie cannot answer them with any conviction because it’s so liberal in its tone, it takes everyone’s side.

The only character who proves easy to judge is the young journalist played by LaBeouf because he doesn’t even feel compelled to exercise morality. He only cares about advancing his own career, regardless of the harm he could inflict on others.

He’s a total tool, but the portrayal is a little too accurate to dismiss.

Redford could have done a lot more with the conflict between the aging idealist and the young, self-serving pragmatist because it reflects the chasm between generations, and as such, it’s an excellent point of entry into the whole piece.

But for all the potential, all the talent and all the good intentions bubbling beneath this Vancouver-spun production, The Company You Keep suffers a similar fate as the boomers it depicts and leaves a lingering sense of unfulfilled promise.